Kovalchuk is over-rated?? Really. He is part of an elite group of goal scorers in the NHL. There are only 4 guys in the NHL who have scored 30+ goals every season since the lock out. Ovechkin, Heatley, Kovalchuk, and Iginla. There only 2 guys who have had 40+ goals in each season since the lock out and that's Ovechkin and Kovalchuk

That's it, 2 guys.

Kovalchuk is far from over rated and there is a reason there were so many teams interested in him last summer. He gives you something that only a few players in the NHL can. Now, there is no doubt that he is having an off year. 24 goals for a guy like Kovalchuk is a really off year.

Yep, a guy who has consecutive seasons of 52, 42, 52, 43, and 41 goals since the lock out (plus 41 the season before the lock out) and 98, 76, 87, 91, and 85 pts (plus 87 the season before the lock out) is over rated.

He is one of the top 5 offensive players in the NHL who is having a very off year. Over-rated?? Must be a Leaf fan. Can't remember much early than the past 4 or 5 games.

Kovalchuk has been showing signs of busting out of his season long funk in recent games. While i don't think i'll ever be a fan of the massive contract he signed last summer, and there is no denying he's been a massive disappointment so far this season, Kovy is still a dynamic offensive talent & i'm confident that he can rebound into a top scoring threat. At least with 14 years & $94 million still on the books following this season, the Devils better hope he does.

Who predicted that Brodeur would bounce back stronger than ever in the second half? Oh, was that me?

It's early still to call it a major resurgence, but with a team that has been losing badly all year, to get a string of victories like this must provide a huge boost of morale and confidence. New Jersey, even without Parise, is still a dangerous offensive team, and with Brodeur playing well, they could certainly climb back into respectability . . . not the playoffs, mind you, but somewhere within close range perhaps.

This isn't that unexpected by me, but we'll see how long it lasts . . . to me, it's all about Brodeur - without him playing at his usual top level, this team is toast.

I think the Devils are simply back to form. They hit bottom in Dec when Brodeur was benched for 4 games in a row (after letting in 20 goals in 4 games on 50 shots or something horrible like that). It looked really bad.

And suddenly, voila - they're playing like they should have been playing. Brodeur looks solid again, the GAA are down, and the people that should be scoring goals are scoring goals.

Perhaps Langenbrunner was the problem, seems as soon as they shipped him out it all got good again... . Whatever the case, they seem to have snapped out of their 40-game slump and are showing signs of being the Devils we all expected.

I had a chance to trade Bobby Ryan for Kovy in early December in one of my yahoo pools, and turned it down. At the time it seemed like the smart move, but now, I'm not sure...

Generally speaking, the 8th team in the East is around 88 points to squeek into the playoffs. Jersey has 35 point through 48 games so they have 34 games to pick up 53+ points. That means they need 87% of the potential points for the rest of the season to possibly make it in.

Although not mathmatically out, they might as well be.

Good call on Brodeur, Slozo. I was among the group that was jumping off that bandwagon thinking the Marty of old was gone.

The Devils just keep on rolling!! Exactly 2 months ago, they were 10-29-2....after tonights win, they are now only a game under .500 (30-31-4).

They have points in 22 of their last 24 games (20-2-2). Being a Rangers fan, the Devils have long been my least favorite team, but honestly i find myself rooting for them these days, to keep this incredible second half going.

Looking ahead at their schedule, their next 5 games are against Ottawa, Atlanta, NY Islanders, Atlanta, Ottawa. The playoffs are still a long shot, but who knows. Back in January, i for one didn;t see the 30th place team picking up 42 of a possible 48 points!

it will be interesting to see what happens when parise is back in a couple weeks and the devils have two legitimate scoring threats. needless to say i wouldn't want to play them first round in the playoffs that they look determined to make